Okonomiyaki – fun to say, and fun to cook. The word for this Japanese, cabbage-based pancake loosely translates as "what you like, grilled". As its name suggests, okonomiyaki is a flexible dish. There is a batter base, an obligatory cabbage filling and quite strict garnishes – but otherwise, the rest of the ingredients come down to what's at hand. Shrimp and octopus are popular fillings. Pork is also a common choice, usually in the form of pork belly cut into very thin strips, so it looks more like bacon.

When it comes to cooking okonomiyaki, there are two styles – "Hiroshima style", where the plain pancake is grilled, then topped with the chosen cooked ingredients, or "Osaka style", where all the ingredients are mixed into the batter, then cooked more like a frittata. The recipe below is Osaka style, which is most common in Japan's okonomiyaki bars.

The main technicalities surrounding okonomiyaki come down to the garnish. Okonomiyaki sauce is quite hard to track down in Britain – it is similar to a brown sauce in taste, texture and appearance, but the addition of soy or shiitake mushrooms imparts distinctive Japanese umami flavours. Specialist shops may stock the Otafuku brand of okonomiyaki sauce, but failing that, HP brown sauce shares its tomato-vinegar base and makes a good substitute. Japan's brand of Kewpie mayonnaise is thicker and creamier than its western counterpart, but again, British mayonnaise makes a decent substitute. The best type of seaweed to use is "aonori" flakes, but most dried seaweed can be ground in a pestle and mortar.

The final topping is bonito fish flakes, which are parmesan-thin flakes shaved off dried, fermented tuna. The heat emanating from a just-cooked okonomiyaki makes the bonito flakes "dance" over the pancake, but aside from decoration, their main purpose is to impart big umami notes. Bonito flakes can be found in Japanese specialist shops and are traditional, but not compulsory.

When it comes to cooking okonomiyaki, it is important that the pan is not blindingly hot. Stray pieces of cabbage blacken easily, and the result will be a crispy, dark outside and an undercooked centre. Keep the pan at a moderate temperature, and use a lid to trap the heat and encourage cooking on the sides, top and middle, not just the bottom.